Former NYC Mayor Beame Dead at 94

Araham D. Beame, the diminutive accountant who
served as the 104th mayor of New York through the darkest days of
the city's 1975 fiscal crisis, died today, a family spokesman
said. He was 94.

Beame died of complications after open heart surgery at New York
University Medical Center, said Howard Rubenstein. Beame had been
hospitalized there since July of last year, Rubenstein said.
Beame was the city's first Jewish mayor and the second ex-mayor
to die in the last two months. His City Hall predecessor, John V.
Lindsay, died in December.

Fought Lingering Criticism for 1974 City Crisis

Beame spent his last years defending his reputation from those
who said he was a bean-counter who couldn't count — a man who, as
city budget director, comptroller and finally as mayor from 1974
through 1977, failed to prevent a fiscal catastrophe.
The crisis began when banks refused to buy city notes because
the city could not provide enough information about uncollected
real estate taxes.
Before it was over, municipal job rolls, salaries and services
were cut and a mountain of debt was made manageable by a complex
partnership of union pension funds, banks and the state and federal
governments.
The city was "well on the road to recovery" by the time he
left office on Jan. 1, 1978, Beame insisted. "I inherited a budget
gap of $1.5 billion, and when I left we had a surplus of $200
million," he said.

An Unlikely Leader

Beame was an unlikely politician. He was 5-foot-2, soft-spoken
and utterly without charisma — everything his predecessor, Lindsay,
was not.
Lindsay's movie star good looks and political savvy helped quell
riots in the city during the tumultuous '60s.
Beame was born March 20, 1906. While growing up in New York
City, Beame worked in the family restaurant and earned extra money
by knocking on doors to wake neighbors for work. Inspired by
Horatio Alger books, he worked eight hours at a factory while
attending high school.
Despite his size, he was known for his toughness — his nickname
was "Spunky."
Beame's administration will always be remembered as the time the
bill came due for decades of profligate government.
In his own defense, Beame said he had warned for years against
accounting gimmicks that hid the city's true financial condition
and against using capital funds for day-to-day expenses. He said he
cut 60,000 city jobs.
At crunch time in 1975, Beame raised the transit fare from 35
cents to a half dollar, closed firehouses and imposed tuition on
what had been a free City University.
Beame's hopes of a second term were dashed by his third-place
finish, behind Edward I. Koch and Mario Cuomo, in a six-candidate
Democratic primary.